This year brought with it a mixed bag of assorted surprises for Hindi cinema, but the biggest revelation was the success of Mohit Suri’s ‘Saiyyara.’ After a long time, a bona fide love story smashed the box office, and trade watchers and audiences had a lot to say about why the film worked so spectacularly. 

While discussing the freshly minted blockbuster, veteran producer Anand Pandit gets nostalgic about the love stories he fell in love with growing up. He says, “Hindi cinema’s love affair with romance is timeless. We have filmed legendary stories like Laila Majnu (1976), Shirin Farhad (1956), Sohni Mahiwal (1958 and1984), along with literary classics like the many versions of ‘Devdas’. We have had period romances like ‘Pakeezah’ and ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ , tragedies like ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye’ , ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’, and many others inspired by ‘Romeo & Juliet’.  Not to mention teen romances like ‘Bobby’ and ‘Love Story.’ ‘Ashiqiui’, of course, inspired a slew of love stories with music as a central theme, including ‘Saiyaara’. And the success  of the last, connotes that love stories with a musical heart are finally back.”

Pandit says love never really went out of fashion and was just put on the back burner as Hindi cinema got disconnected from its own roots.  He says, “A plethora of regional remakes, remakes of Korean thrillers and films without the emotional core and musicality that Hindi cinema is known for, made us forget our strengths as storytellers. I think we are finally embracing the emotional core and musicality that made Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra, and Gurudutt so iconic.”

This is not to say that young makers should follow the path of those who came before them, he says, and adds, “Mohit Suri has made a modern film, but at its heart is a solid conviction that Hindi cinema’s most successful filmmakers too had while making their brand of cinema. A maker must believe in an idea, an emotion for it to connect with the audience. When you are just trying to please an algorithm, you often lose sight of your audience. Social media discussions prove that there’s a core audience out there, craving heart-led narratives. “